'Hotel Rwanda' or 'No Tell' Rwanda?
Why is the US military backing Rwandan militias hitting SE Congo?
Could it be the vast rare earth mineral resources?
Kambale Musevuli is back Thursday on 'Air Cascadia' and he's got the answers...
State Secrets
How much is 'too little,' exactly how overdue is 'too late'? We won't know unless ,” New York's Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler's proposed legislation is passed.
The State Secrets Protection Act, H.R. 5956, would be the first law to rein in the president’s “state secrets privilege.' Said privilege amounts to a nearly limitless power to kill litigation by claiming a lawsuit would expose national security information to the benefit of America’s enemies.
Obama and his successors in the White House would be banned from using false claims of national security to conceal “embarrassing or unlawful conduct” by the government, under new legislation proposed by lawmakers on both sides of the House.
First recognized by the US Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit in 1953, the privilege (.pdf) has been increasingly and successfully invoked in the post-9/11 era to shield the government and its agents from court scrutiny in cases involving rendition, torture, warrantless wiretapping, and the lethal targeting of U.S. citizens.
Also signing on to the legislation is Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin), John Conyers Jr. (D-Michigan), and Zoe Lofgren (D-California).
The bill, which has not been placed for a committee hearing, would require judges to find alternatives to dismissing lawsuits when the privilege is invoked. Nearly every time the privilege is asserted, judges toss lawsuits.
- KBOO